REFUGEES in the Manus Island detention facility have written to a former teacher to express their joy after Papua New Guinea officials announced the centre would be closed. Catholic teacher Jacob Rice received “messages of jubilation” from his former students on the island when a Supreme Court ruling declared the immigration detention centre illegal. “I have received messages of jubilation and ... Read More »
REFUGEE advocates have demanded the Federal Government put an end to children ever being held in immigration detention again. The detention of children has been described as a contributor to long-term trauma, a violation of duty of care and morally wrong by refugee advocates. Brisbane’s Catholic Justice and Peace Commission welcomed the April 3 announcement by Immigration Minister Peter Dutton to ... Read More »
AMERICA’S leading public health institute released a report last year detailing the most common times babies were born. According to the report, released by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention’s Centre for Health Statistics, a majority of United States babies born in 2013 arrived in the new world between 8am and lunchtime. Were those babies born in Sudan’s western ... Read More »
A SENIOR priest who works closely with asylum seekers in detention has called on the Prime Minister to end their incarceration. Darwin diocese vicar general Fr Malcolm Fyfe has described harrowing conditions inside the Wickham Point detention centre on the outskirts of Darwin. The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart priest’s plea to the Prime Minister has the backing of Darwin ... Read More »
ASYLUM seekers on Manus Island have told one of their former English teachers they would prefer death than their indefinite sentence in detention. Jacob Rice worked as a fly-in, fly-out maths and English teacher at the Manus Island immigration detention centre for nine months between December last year and August this year. “They tell me that they’re praying for death,” ... Read More »
THE minute former Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced Australia would accept extra refugees from Syria, Catholic bishops, priests, parishes and individuals started raising their hands to say “We’ll help”. Archbishop Mark Coleridge was among the first, on behalf of the people of Brisbane archdiocese. By the time Archbishop Coleridge announced last weekend the archdiocese would aim to welcome at least ... Read More »
AUSTRALIA’S largest Catholic volunteer organisation has vowed to help the nation’s increased intake of persecuted Syrians find a safe haven in their newfound home. The St Vincent de Paul Society National Council of Australia welcomed the recent government’s decision to accept a further 12,000 refugees from Syria, confirmed yesterday. The society’s chief executive Dr John Falzon said ... Read More »
By Paul Dobbyn BRISBANE refugee rights activist Freddie Steen described an Australian Government agreement with Cambodia to resettle asylum seekers there as “people trafficking”. “What else can you call it?” the former volunteer at Woolloongabba’s Mercy Family Services Romero Centre said. “Our government is paying another country to take people we don’t want – basically using humans as a commodity. ... Read More »
By Paul Dobbyn SRI Lankan asylum seekers playing in soccer and cricket teams around Brisbane have witnessed to the power of sport to build bridges with the wider community. Several young men belonging to the Tigers Eleven Soccer Club and the Tamil junior cricket team told their stories at the Brisbane launch of the Australian bishops’ 2014/2015 Social Justice Statement, ... Read More »
The Catholic Leader Keeping Faith with You
